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Brandane

Legendary Member
Location
Costa Clyde
You are quite right, so which should we address the more robustly, the ones that might have serious consequences or the ones that might slightly inconvenience someone?
You are quite right. We should deal with the nobber cyclist more robustly, before he causes a load of bad feeling towards others. For the sake of five seconds inconvenience. That IS what you meant, I assume? :whistle:
 
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snorri

Legendary Member
And is he prepared to come to a stop 30 or 40 times to let each oh-so-important car passed?

.......... yes, and also prepared for the more likely occurrence of defending oneself from attacks from witches, dragons and werewolves:biggrin:.
 
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puffinbilly

Veteran
OMG - this is comedy genius - I can feel protest marches for the ONE from or maybe not Cirencester coming on.

I agree with your points of courtesy on the road - BUT then in your title and first paragraph you destroy your own argument with some of the most vitriolic abuse.

Courtesy - the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behaviour towards others.

We can't all be built like myself and Adonis and have legs hewn of the finest oak.:laugh:
 
We still don't know the road, the OP still hasn't named it so none of us has any idea if there was anywhere to safely pull over. Is the delay likely to have been exaggerated by someone who thinks the rider's physique is relevant? Probably. It's the same body-fascism that effects Kate Winslett's fertility.
 
I only know of one single track lane 2 miles long east of Cirencester is Fairford.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
That's amazing - what happens when 2 cars travelling in opposite directions meet in the middle of such as stretch? does one of them reverse for a mile or so? How do they negotiate this? Are you seriously saying that it is dangerous for a cyclist to pull over to the side of such roads and come to a halt? I'm staying away from the fens if that's the case!
It is an amazing and beautiful landscape.

If two cars meet in the middle, then it's a failure of observation and action by both parties because those sections of fen road are usually long, straight and without close hedges, so you just pull over when you can before meeting oncoming traffic and wait - sometimes for a couple of minutes. You can't really drive the small fen roads in a rush - there are wider roads and even A and B roads for through motor traffic.

When two do meet, usually whoever is nearest or most manoeuvrable reverses to somewhere they can pull in. Farm entrances are usable by cars on wide low-pressure tyres, just like they are by MTBs, but a narrow high-pressure road bike tyre often sinks in.

I've not yet met an oncoming car on the fens when I've needed to reverse very far, but I have reversed a half-mile or more near a river crossing in mid-Norfolk. You just do it: if you're in a rush, you shouldn't be on such narrow lanes.

It really can be dangerous for a cyclist on a road bike to get near the edge of some of fen roads. They often have drains along both sides and the road edges can be ill-defined and unstable for various reasons. If you try to ride onto the verge in a road bike, you may well be getting wet, as what looks like a verge is sometimes just long grass at the top of the drain bank.

They're dangerous for motorists too. Several have died from straying off the road for some reason (usually suspected to be excessive speed), rolled into a drain and couldn't get out because their doors wedged shut against the banks. Basically, bad driving around here still risks a death penalty.

It's still good to cycle in the fens, though. There's plenty of small roads where most motorists are deterred by the death penalty, you can usually see and hear the remainder coming a long way off and most of them are relaxed and polite. The winds are a far stiffer challenge!
or the driver behind wants to overtake, pull into a passing place on your left, or wait opposite a passing place on your right.
Yebbut the reference to "grassy" makes me think they weren't passing places with the white square/diamond signs.
 

Brandane

Legendary Member
Location
Costa Clyde
Yebbut the reference to "grassy" makes me think they weren't passing places with the white square/diamond signs.
Give me strength! Do you really need a proper designated passing place to give a car space to get past? What do you do when you meet a car coming towards you on these roads?
As I previously posted, I have yet to find any road where it isn't possible to stop briefly at the verge. I don't understand how you could find this dangerous, as in your post above. Someone previously claimed they couldn't do this as it would entail putting a foot down on the verge, and "danger lurks in the grass". FFS, if this is the risk assessment of grown men or women then we really are doomed as a race. Use your eyes!
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Give me strength! Do you really need a proper designated passing place to give a car space to get past? What do you do when you meet a car coming towards you on these roads?
It doesn't need to be a designated passing place, but it needs to be safe. Cars coming towards us are much easier because we see them sooner and can find a safe place to stop - or they can, as often happens.

As I previously posted, I have yet to find any road where it isn't possible to stop briefly at the verge. I don't understand how you could find this dangerous, as in your post above.
Come take a few falls into fen drains and then maybe you'll understand! :laugh:

This isn't a great example because it's just after a concrete farm yard that I would pull over onto, but the lovely lush verge on the left of https://goo.gl/maps/wVrqZ is actually a steep side of a drain that's at least 6ft deep. The tall grass gives a false impression of a fairly flat stable width. I'm wondering if the next streetview update will show the dent from the white van that tried to put its wheels on the verge and fell into the drain.

Someone previously claimed they couldn't do this as it would entail putting a foot down on the verge, and "danger lurks in the grass".

Yes, that "dangers lurk under the grass" comment was me being lazy. I don't entirely regret the abbreviation because of the wonderful picture posted in reply, but I had explained it a bit more fully a few posts earlier:

the grass on the verge conceals drainage channels and rabbit holes which can wreck a wheel, body, or worse.

It is the right and responsibility of the person in front to decide what's a safe place for their vehicle to pull over, not the impatient nobber behind. You may disagree with their decision, but it does not necessarily make them a crap cyclist.
 
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Brandane

Legendary Member
Location
Costa Clyde
The OP displays evidence of emotional instability and intolerance and should have their licence removed.
There are a few posters on this thread who should have their bikes removed because they don't have a clue how to ride them in conjunction with other road users, show a complete disregard for rule 155 of the highway code, and cannot assess risk.
 
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